Secret documents which have been leaked contain the results of more than 10,000 blood tests and showed that a third of all medals - including 91 golds - were won by skiers who recorded suspicious test results

By Beya Kabelu

4th February 2018, 1:46 pm

Updated: 4th February 2018, 7:04 pm

THE Winter Olympics has been hit by a fresh doping scandal after secret papers revealed up to a third of all medallists have provided dodgy drug test results.

Hundreds of skiers have escaped bans despite recording unusual blood test scores, with documents showing some skiers had blood so dangerously thick they should have been in hospital.

The worst offender was Russia, which has been banned from competing under its own flag at the Olympics, and topped the list of cheating countries

Russia banned from Winter Olympics 2018 following major doping scandal

The fresh doping scandal comes just days before the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang, South Korea this Friday.

The database was leaked to The Sunday Times and German broadcaster ARD by a whistleblower who had serious concerns about the Games' integrity.

Two anti-doping experts, who looked at the data, found that many of the skiers had used two common blood doping techniques. Athletes either injected themselves with the banned drug erythropoitin (EPO) or were given transfusions of their own blood that had been removed earlier.

James Stray-Gundersen, an American physician who worked in the past with the International Ski Federation (FIS), told The Sunday Times: "There are a significant number of medallists that had abnormal or highly abnormal blood profile results that suggested there is a significant incidence of doping."

The experts noted that it was common to see extreme blood scores among athletes who won medals in main events.